Technical Field
The present disclosure relates generally to associating attributes with network addresses, and more specifically processing techniques to determine fixed/mobile and proxy/non-proxy network addresses.
Background Information
Providers of compliance, digital rights management (DRM), online commerce, mobile advertising or other types of services may be able to utilize information related to location, time, intent, identity and other qualities of a user or a user's device in providing their services. For example, compliance and DRM related services may use the information to verify the location of a user, and to understand fidelity of that location in order to meet security requirements or contractual obligations. Likewise, online commerce and advertising related services may use the information to change messaging and content to adapt to user's interests. For example, a mobile advertiser may build a campaign that targets consumers who match specific market segments, or who are located in specific places. The information may also be used to advantage with a wide variety of other types of services. However, information describing location, time, intent, identity, and the like is often unavailable to service providers.
In some cases, a network address, for example, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, associated with a user's device may be available. If such network address (e.g., IP address) could be mapped to entries of a data store that accurately and reliable associated information describing location, time, intent, identity, and the like, to network addresses, then useful information may become available to the service provider. However, forming these sorts of associations in the first place poses a number of problems.
Among other problems, some network addresses may be associated with intermediary network devices acting as gateways between an end device and a destination device, thereby obscuring the identity of the end device. The presence of undetected proxy addresses may impact the usefulness of any associations between network addresses and information that may be formed. Similarly, some network addresses may be associated with network devices that are relatively fixed while others may be associated with network addresses that are mobile, regularly moving between networks and forming connections with different network nodes while still maintaining a same network address. Unless these addresses are recognized and handled appropriately, their presence too may impact the usefulness of associations. Accordingly, there is a needed for improved techniques.